Mariners Christian School families meet their teachers

More than 400 families viewed the new additions to the Mariners Christian School campus during their annual Meet a Teacher Day Tuesday morning.

Each year, the campus invites Mariners students and their families to come into the Costa Mesa school and meet their teachers for the upcoming year.

“It’s a great opportunity for teachers to get familiar with their class,” Mariners’ Head of School Troy Moore said. “They go from looking at their roll call list and rosters in black and white to putting those names to faces.”

The students, in grades kindergarten through eighth, and their families toured the latest upgraded facility, Mariners’ 21st Century Learning Commons.

The school’s 2,000-square-foot library was revamped into the Learning Commons this summer. The new area includes tables, chairs and two large screens where students may connect and display what’s on their tablets. The school will also bring in shelves for the library’s books to sit in the commons.

“The whole premise of this new learning environment is to have a place that’s flexible, adaptable and will meet the needs of whatever projects the kids are doing,” Moore said.

Mariners will also launch its new one-on-one iPad program where each student in sixth through eighth grade will receive the device from the school. Moore said these students will receive the iPads and begin a digital citizenship class next week.

The school, established in 1987, serves around 650 students from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine and nearby cities. Mariners began with their first day of school on Wednesday.